KarinCoHoUS's blog

My favorite thing about attending conferences is the people that I meet. Don't get me wrong, the information gleaned while attending intensives and sessions is invaluable, but what I really love is the informal conversations with other conference attendees when waiting for the elevator or while sitting in the hotel lobby lounge. This is when you might hear about creative use of an old space, or of someone's challenges with community neighbors that might be similar to an experience you had just a few months ago in your own community, or perhaps you learn of a fun, unique tradition that you can take home to share and implement with your community.

First, I have to say I love it here! I was not at all sure I would. Two-and-a-half years of lots of meetings and large potlucks, with little time for one-on-one relating, had made me wonder if I was making a big mistake. Plus, I was giving up a to-die-for view of the river for a view of a roof-top, stone wall, and cell phone tower.

Isolation is one of the key issues that we face as we age. Women more than men will be in this predicament as women tend to outlive their male partners. Are you rattling around in that big house on your own? Are you interested in ageing with people of similar interests? Lew Bowers from PDX Commons, a senior co-housing project in Portland, Oregon, explains how this new concept works.

Social Activism consists of efforts to promote, social, political, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make improvements in society. Be a social activist, support the cohousing movement.
Often people make donations to organizations they support on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, but you can financially support non-profits such as CoHoUS ANY DAY of the week, ANY TIME of the year!

As this year draws to a close, the Cohousing Research Network (the research arm
of the Cohousing Association) is asking our community to help us continue to
support the growth of Cohousing. As a volunteer-run organization with no paid
staff, every dollar we raise goes directly towards projects and events. Even a
modest gift helps and you can donate through the Cohousing Association

Over the last several years I have served on the Cohousing Association of the US Board of Directors and it's
been an absolute delight! My term will be ending the end of this year.
The board meets monthly by phone and with a well-crafted meeting by our executive
director, Karin Hoskin, we move expediently through business on behalf of the
communities within the National Cohousing Association. It's been a delight to work with
my fellow co-housers representing regions around the nation. And during conferences
we've been able to meet and hear more about one another personally as well as our
shared interests in the continued growth of cohousing.

Recently when visiting Greyrock Commons in Fort Collins Colorado, I had the pleasure of touring their common house. Not only do they have the absolute-most-coolest-ever-indoor-kids-play-area, but they had lovely wooden floors in their dining space. It turns out that I have a long ago connection to those floors as they were recovered during demolition from an old roller rink that I used to skate at when I was a kid!
Another nice reuse was the using of beetle kill pine wood that Wild Sage Cohousing in Boulder, Colorado used when building their bee hives.

Durham, NC— Village Hearth Cohousing invites anyone interested in solving the senior LGBT housing crisis to a free public presentation on Friday, August 25th at 4:00 p.m. at Southwest Regional Library in Durham, NC. The presentation will feature architect and cohousing expert, Charles Durrett (McCamant & Durrett Architects) who, along with Kathryn McCamant (CoHousing Solutions) brought cohousing to the U.S. in the 1980s. To date, McCamant & Durrett Architects (MDA) has designed over 50 cohousing communities and over a dozen senior cohousing communities, including Village Hearth Cohousing.

On moving day. What does it feel like to move into a cohousing home you’ve been building for years? Exciting! The movers were friendly and right on time and carried all my boxes and furniture down three flights of stairs to the waiting truck. As the rental apartment I was leaving slowly emptied out, I had worried that I might feel sad to leave, but instead I was giddy with anticipation. When I arrived in my car at my new home, there was small group of cohousing friends there to greet me with open arms, feed me snacks, hold the front doors open, and watch the movers unpacking my belongings! My movers pulled up and I was officially moving in. We learned that the elevator was on emergency power due to a partial power outage at our new building, but at least it was working, unlike the day before.